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CONNERSMITH is pleased to announce REUNION, an exhibition of Washington Color paintings by Sam Gilliam, Alma Thomas, Howard Mehring, Thomas Downing, Gene Davis, and Hilda Shapiro Thorpe.

Selected works, from the mid 1950s to the early 1970s, bespeak the creative dynamic that inspired this distinctly influential circle of American abstract painters.

Old Side, 1968

Sam Gilliam

Old Side, 1968

acrylic and metallic paint on back bevel canvas,

108 x 75 inches

“Those paintings, the Slice paintings, represented Gilliam’s first breakthrough, his first signature style. …Most critics viewed the Slice paintings on backward slanting beveled -edge stretchers as ‘major breakthroughs.’ …

 

Macy's Parade, 1960

Alma Thomas

Macy's Parade, 1960

watercolor on paper,

22.50h x 30w inches

Macy’s Parade (1960) was inspired by large-scale helium balloon figures designed for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade by modernist puppeteer Tony Sarg. This iconic watercolor had an especially personal meaning for Thomas ...

 

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Untitled, 1959

Hilda Shapiro Thorpe

Untitled, 1959

oil on canvas

60h x 73w inches

“Thorpe’s early paintings, large gestural abstractions, are strikingly assured. Already present is the exuberance, strong linear emphasis, and lyrical color that would continue to define her works in all media ...

 

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Untitled (Orange Allover), c.1960

Howard Mehring

Untitled (Orange Allover), c.1960

magna on canvas,

14 x 12 inches

“I work rapidly and impulsively over the whole surface in waves of color ...

 

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Untitled, c1959

Thomas Downing

Untitled, c1959

magna on canvas

78 x 73 inches

“To get back to some more specific qualities I seek in my work I would say that along with the simplicity and ease there is also ...

 

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Origo Sigma, c1958-1959

Thomas Downing

Origo Sigma, c1958-1959

magna on canvas

70 x 63 inches

“Color very quickly makes associations with all sorts of states of mind or states of being which we can see everywhere all the time...

 

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#5, 1962

Howard Mehring

#5, 1962

acrylic and graphite on canvas

96 x 60 inches

“The geometric image (is as basic to color painting as) the rhythmic repetition of an element, color, space and openness, symmetry ...

 

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#6, 1971

Sam Gilliam

#6, 1971

acrylic on paper

20.25h x 25.75w inches

“I also spent time in Japan, and the most exciting thing there was the ritual ...

 

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Untitled, c1955-57

Thomas Downing

Untitled, c1955-57

magna and enamel on canvas

76h x 78w inches

“Some more remarkable people are themselves like walks in a rampant summer garden. They too change color. The only thing consistent about them is the luminosity of their colors ...

 

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Untitled, 1954

Gene Davis

Untitled, 1954

oil on masonite

30 x 42 inches

“I had the instincts very early to know where to jump in, and I always felt that you should jump in at the most advanced point of art history ...

 

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Black Turmoil, 1957

Gene Davis

Black Turmoil, 1957

acrylic on canvas

12 x 10 inches

“The only requirement I make of art, and this may sound a little simplistic, is that it look good...

 

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